


Saving Jack

by GachMoBrea



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: (SORRY!), Action, Bad guys, Bec I'm not smart enough..., Drugged!Jack, Gen, Hostage Situation, Hurt!Jack, I am not MacGyver, I make stuff up..., It's not very good stuff tho-, Kidnapping, Mac saves Jack, MacGyver 2016, Most likely VERY Out Of Character, OOC, One-Shot, Pretend Science, Rescue, This is NOT good enough for this Series..., Vague Hospital Stuff..., friendship?, slightly cheesy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8449798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GachMoBrea/pseuds/GachMoBrea
Summary: Not my best work...Not even very good work, but it's something.Jack is taken as leverage to use against Mac.   *Warnings for possible cliches & cheeses scenes... =p





	

"Jack, what on EARTH could you want my help with at an old abandoned warehouse?" Mac called out as he entered the building. 

He had just returned home from a run when he got a text from his friend asking him to come to his present address. The message ended with, 'Hurry up, dude!'  
Mac tried texting back, but got no response. He quickly showered and changed before he drove like a madman to the warehouse. He was curious as to HOW much trouble his friend was trying to get him into this time.

"Jack?" Mac called out his friend's name a little louder, cupping his hands over his face to enhance the volume. "You still here?"  
He's reaching for his phone, hoping to call the man, when he hears the distinct 'click' of a semi-automatic being readied to fire. He freezes, hand just above his pocket. Three more guns 'click', each one sounding from another spot around him. He's surrounded. This was a trap.  
But who set it? For what reason?  
And where was Jack?

"You going to show yourself?" Mac asks calmly, taking in his surroundings and planning out possible escape routes with a single sweep. By the sounds of the clicks, he has a basic idea of where the shooters were. If they start firing, he could duck and roll to-  
"Angus MacGyver!" A male voice with a light Russian accent jars itself into the blonde's thoughts. "I had often wondered what it would take to have you at my mercy. What a pity all it took was a text from your comrade's phone."  
Mac doesn't recognize the voice. That could mean several things, the top three being: it isn't someone he met, he met them a long time ago and forgot, or it is someone who was working on the side lines and they never came face-to-face. 

"Where is Jack?" Mac looks to where the voice came from. There could be a speaker there, instead of a man, but he looks anyway. He's not ready to move and risk getting shot. Not yet, anyway.  
"He is safe. Here. With me," the man laughs, sounding closer. The likely hood of him physically being there increases. There is no threat, yet. If he wants Mac cornered, he most likely needs him alive. So, Mac decides to 'test the waters' and takes a step. Nothing happens; a good sign.

"What is it you want?" Mac asks next, taking another step closer to the voice. Still nothing from the shooters. Maybe he was supposed to reach the man.  
"Oh...A little this...A little that..."  
'That's not much of an answer.' Mac thinks as he rounds the debris and broken down truck blocking his way to the voice. When he reaches the other side, he is almost relieved to find an actual person waiting for him.  
Almost.  
The Russian has Jack kneeling at his side, bound with ropes wrapped around his chest and looking a little dazed. Mac's worry flares hot in the front of his mind, but he pushes the instinct to run to his friend down in order to look over his opponent.  
The enemy before him is in an expensive grey suit. His hair is dark, slicked back with too much gel and there's a thin pair of wire-rimed glasses sitting just at the edge of his nose.  
'He looks like an overpaid accountant,' Mac thinks as he makes eye contact. Steely blue orbs crinkle with the man's manic smile.  
"If it's me you want, then let Jack go," The agent tries.  
"Let him go?" The Russian acts confused. He pulls out a gun from his coat and puts the barrel to Jack's head. "Do you mean kill him?"  
"No," Mac says evenly, forcing down his mounting worry and burning anger to keep his mind calm. "I mean, untie him and let him leave in the car I came in. You can take me. He won't be able to follow us."  
"How do you suppose that?" The man in the suit pushes the gun against Jack's head until he topples over. The agent just lies there as if he hadn't felt the move at all.  
"Because you've clearly drugged him and he's in no state to do anything!" Mac curses at himself for raising his voice. He can't risk letting emotions control the situation. That's what his enemy wants.  
"That is a good point," the Russian shrugs, putting his gun away. "But I still won't do it. Now," he claps his hands together. " Why don't we go over what I expect from you and how you can live to see the end of this week alive with your friend. Hm?"

The man walks over to MacGyver and puts an arm over the agent's shoulder. Mac reacts. He spins the man, taking his gun as he pulls him against his chest with the weapon pointed towards his head.  
"If you want to see your boss alive, you better drop your weapons and come out with your hands up!" Mac shouts out to the still useable shooters. He thinks he catches a reflection in his peripheral vision, but it could be from a piece of metal.  
*"Don't shoot him!"* The Russian calls out in his native tongue. *"Shoot at the one on the ground!"*  
"NO!" Mac shouts as a shot immediately rings out. The ground just below Jack's knee is disturbed as a bullet hits the ground, centimeters from the man's body, lifting up a small cloud of dust. Jack doesn't react at all.  
"What did you give him?" Mac growls, pulling the man into the line of fire, his back to his friend.  
"Trade secret," the suited man laughs. "You know Russian? How nice! When did that happen?"  
"Picked it up off the back of a cereal box," the agent grumbles, trying to decide his next move. He maneuvers their bodies to get at his phone.  
*"One more time. No blood, please!"* his captive calls out again.  
Another shot, this one near Jack's head and from the opposite direction.  
"You are surrounded," the Russian sighs as if disappointed. "Will you concede?"  
Mac lets the man go.  
His enemy steps forward before turning back with a Cheshire grin.  
"Now... About those 'expectations'."

The man names himself "Mr. Hue" and explains that Mac is to go to work as usual and put a UBS drive into any internet connected computer.  
"It doesn't have to be the main one, or even your lovely boss's private laptop," Mr. Hue adds with a grin. "Any computer with internet capabilities within those walls is all I want. Then you get your friend back and you can blow the whistle on this entire operation."  
It's too easy. There are too many possibilities for an ending and far more reasons why Mac can't go through with the deal.  
"I see that fine mind of yours working," the Russian tilts his head. "You don't have to do it, of course," he motions to the direction Mac came in. "Feel free to leave. Just know, you will have to account to your teammates when Jack doesn't come home. Ever."  
"I want a few minutes alone with him first," Mac counters, agent-mode sliding into place as his emotions grow stronger. "I also want to take a blood sample to make sure you haven't poisoned him."  
"Whatever you need," Mr. Hue shrugs indifferently. "But, as I'm sure you've figured, I can always poison him later."  
"Is that a threat?"  
"It's a fact."  
Jack groans, catching both men's attention. He rolls onto his back as his chest heaves heavy against his bindings.  
"Ah, it is wearing off," Mr. Hue smirks as he turns his focus back to the blonde. "I am confident in my men to keep you in check, so I will be generous and give you three minutes." He puts a hand on Mac's shoulder, "But after that, I will have your answer."  
The Russian waves a hand in the air, then walks out of the space. Red dots flash on Jack's body, before blinking out. Just long enough for Mac to know how many snipers there were and where they were covering his friend.  
Seven, each with a separate focus point. It's a surprising number for such an open space. Mac scans the area as he walks over to Jack, noting at least half of the hidden shooters before kneeling down next to the other agent.  
"Ma-" Jack's voice is far too soft and cuts off with a groan as his eyes close in a wince.  
"Jack, are you with me, buddy?" Mac pulls his friend's head into his lap before checking his pulse. It's erratic, slow then speeding up to slow down again. "What are you feeling? Do you know what they gave you?"  
"S-sar-" Jack shudders, eyes still closed, "Rya-rynge. Bu-blue," another shudder, this one a little harsher. Mac tightens his hold on his friend's body. "C-c-cold."  
"Most likely a side-affect to the drug," Possibilities fly passed Mac's brain, each new possibility either being dismissed or put a side into later consideration in rapid succession. None of them really seem to fit everything Jack was going though, so the possibility of a new drug, or mixture of several different ones, was the most likely. 'Trade secret,' the Russian had said. Mac scowls as Jack's pulse speeds up again.  
"Du-don't you-oo," Jack swallows around his friend's fingers on his neck. "Don't giv-give 'em an-any-nothin'. You go-got that?"  
"Right, I'll just let you die," Mac looks the place over. Finalizing an escape plan that has a 20% chance of success. They've worked with less.  
Of course, Jack was able to walk and function more on his own during those times.

Jack shakes a little harder and Mac looks back down at him. His friend's eye looks back up at him with grim determination.  
"Gu-get yer bu-butt outta hu-here, Mac," Jack orders him. "I ay-ain't no gu-good ta you li-like this."  
"Think about what you would say to me if our roles were reversed," the blonde returns evenly. Jack growls in frustration as he shakes violently again.  
"Time's up, gentlemen," Mr. Hue returns with two armed men at either side. "What is your answer, Mr. MacGyver?"  
"I'll do it," Mac answers, eyes still on Jack to let his friend know he wasn't backing down. Jack closes his eyes in defeat as he shakes again.  
"Wonderful," the Russian pulls an empty syringe from his coat pocket and offers it to the agent. "It's sterile, in case you were wondering. I thought you might want a sample of Mr. Dalton's blood. Of course, if you just want to stab the poor man instead," he shrugs. "That is fine too."  
Further poisoning Jack wouldn't help his enemy, so Mac takes the needle. The too-prepared Russian also hands over a sealed alcohol wipe that the blonde takes as well.

"You have company coming," Mr. Hue states as Mac wipes down Jack's wrist. He can't get to his arm with all the ropes binding him.  
Mac's mind whirls with the new information, forming a plan that has a 23% chance of success as he gently pushes the needle in. Jack winces, holding his breath to aid in keeping his still shaking body still. Mac takes just enough to sample, then pulls the needle back out and caps it; careful to put it in his breast pocket for safe keeping.  
*"Take our guest home,"* Mr. Hue orders his men. They approach Mac with their guns, pointing them to the blonde's head as he hesitates to separate himself from his friend.  
"Just gu-get outta here, k-kid," Jack forces himself up, smirking at his friend when he helps him the rest of the way. He gives the blonde a pointed look, "Don't be st-stupid. Get these guy la-later."  
The armed men grab hold of Jack's arms and drag him away, their guns pointed at Mac for a few steps before red, laser lights appear on his chest. Then they turn and drag the other agent away faster.  
Mac turns to the Russian, putting a finger in the man's face regardless of the danger, "If anything happens to him-"  
"Relax!" Mr. Hue smiles as he raises his hands in surrender. "Jack will be well cared for. No more drugs will be given to him. He will be too tired from this dose to do much. You won't take long fulfilling your mission, will you?"  
"You know I only go in when they call," Mac muses, figuring the man had done his research. "They'll get curious as to why Jack doesn't come in as well."  
"I do know this," his enemy nods, smile still smugly in place. "You will be called in shortly. I'm sure you will be able to convince your coworkers nothing is wrong, for Jack's sake," he puts his hand on the agent's shoulder. "I'd hate for this all to be for naught."  
There are sirens in the air now, ringing hope as Mac's heart beats wildly in his chest.  
"Till later, MacGyver," Mr. Hue pulls back his hand and walks passed the blonde. "I apologize for the tranquilizer."  
Mac curses as he tries to dodge the projectile. It catches him in the ankle as he takes cover behind the broken truck's removed hood. He continues to curse himself as the world hazes then dims around him.  
The last thing he thinks is, 'Wait a minute. What about that stupid USB?'

\---

"Mac? You with me, buddy? Hey!"  
Mac groans away the fuzzy feeling in his head as he rubs at his face. When he thinks he can handle it, he looks over to where the voice came from.  
Riley smiles at him with a small wave.  
"Welcome back to the waking world," the computer whiz smiles at him. "You wanna tell me why the police caught you snoozing in an abandoned warehouse?"  
"No," Mac sighs as he sits up. The world tilts just slightly and he squints his eyes tightly closed until things stop moving without his consent. When he opens his eyes again, Riley is no longer smiling. She looks extremely worried.  
"What's the matter?" the blonde asks, hoping she didn't know about Jack.  
"Other than the fact that you've clearly been drugged and don't want to talk about it?" his teammate quips sarcastically. "Nothing. What would there be?"  
"Riley..." Mac sighs again. He looks down and realizes he's in a hospital gown and groans. He also realizes there's an IV in his hand. It must have been a powerful tranquilizer to make him this slow to recover. "Where am I?"  
"Hospital," Riley answers blandly. "You know you're going to have to talk to Thorton about this, right? You might as well tell me first. I'm already here."  
"I'll be happy to tell you everything later," Mac carefully removes the IV, then turns to let his legs dangle over the edge of the bed. Thankfully, the tranquilizer is wearing off fast because the world remains unmoved. He closes his eyes anyways as he pushes himself to his feet and is grateful for it because his legs are a little weak.  
"You shouldn't be getting up yet, Mac," Riley tells him but doesn't try to stop him. "We found your car and fresh tracks. We know you went there to meet with someone. What's going on Mac? What are you and Jack up to now?"  
"Jack?" the blonde turns calm eyes to his friend. "Was he there too?"  
"No," the computer whiz rolls her eyes. "But we can't get him to come in. He keeps telling us that he's in deep with you." She stands. "Which is really strange because you are here. Without him."  
'How is Mr. Hue doing that?' Mac shakes his head as he shuffles to the closet to get his clothes. He smiles at the plastic bag holding the items then carries it to the bathroom.  
Riley stops him with a hand on the door, "Mac. Talk to me."  
"I wish I could," he tells her honestly. 'But I'm not going to drag more people into this. Not yet. It's too soon.' He smiles, "Everything's going to be just fine. I promise."  
"I'm not convinced," Riley frowns, but she removes her arm. "You, Jack and I are going to have a very serious conversation about what should be kept secret after this. Do you feel me?"  
"Yeah," he nods, getting in the bathroom. He locks the door and briefly rests his head against the coolness of the smooth surface. "Yeah..."

Mac splashes cold water over his face to chase away the remaining after affects from the tranquilizer before dressing quickly. He heaves a heavy sigh of relief when he finds the syringe, undamaged. Then he frowns when he finds a USB right next to it. He hadn't put it there. It must have been planted on him after he was knocked out.  
There's a knock on the door as he re-places the object that could most likely label him a traitor.  
"Hey, Mac!" Riley yells from the other side. "I just tried calling Jack again and I think there's something wrong. You wanna come out of there and explain something to me?"  
The blonde looks to the window but it's too small for him to fit through, so he goes back out the door.  
The computer whiz turns her laptop screen towards the blonde.  
"Jack's voice is being synthesized," Riley says angrily. "He's in trouble, isn't he? You and he are in a lot of trouble, aren't you?"  
"Riley-"  
"No," she plops the machine on the bed with a shake of her head. "Not today, Mac. Not gonna happen. You are NOT going to stand there and lie to me."  
"Jack is in trouble," he tells her honestly. A plan forming in his head as his mind clears the rest of the way. "And I just realized how we can get him back."  
"Back?" Riley's eyes widen. "Someone TOOK him? Who? Why? What is going on?!"  
"One at a time," Mac grins, picking his teammate's computer back up and heading for the door. "But first, a pit stop at a lab."

 

Mac and Riley sneak passed the officers and agents patrolling the hospital and sneak into the hospital's lab room. It's small and poorly manned, making it easier for the blonde to utilize the machines inside.  
"You're SURE you're allowed to be here?" the young med student manning the place during lunch relief repeats as he tries to look over Riley's shoulder.  
"How long do you have to play machine babysitter before you're a true, blue white coat guy?" Riley smiles at him, shifting into his view again. "It's what? Five years of free labor before you start getting paid?"  
"I'm nearly done with my-Are you sure he should be doing that?" the kid points to Mac as he starts another machine. "I think I should call my superiors."  
"You know what?" Riley smiles, taking the man by the shoulder by spreading her arm across it. "I think that is a GREAT idea. You know what? I'll go with you!"  
"Really?"  
"Yeah! We'll both go up to him, or her, and I'll explain everything."  
"Good, that's how this is supposed to be-Hey wait!"  
Riley shoves the lab tech into a closet and locks it from the outside.  
"Let me out!" the man shouts as he bangs against the door. "You two are going to be in a lot of trouble!"  
"Why can't you do this back at headquarters?" Riley asks as she rejoins her teammate.  
"I'll be monitored once I leave the hospital," Mac answers as he checks the machine's progress. "I need to know what Jack's dealing with before I can save him. I want to have an antidote if he's been poisoned."  
"These things can take a while," Riley leans against the table as she crosses her arms over her chest. "So you best get explaining."

Mac tells her everything.  
"Crap."  
"Yeah."  
"So, wait," Riley shakes her head. "You're supposed to put some USB in a computer and BAM they let Jack go? What sort of ridiculous bad guy plan is that?"  
"I don't know," Mac runs a hand through his hair before putting his eyes against the eyepiece of the microscope. "But I'm not doing it. At least, not the way they think I'm going to."  
"You lost me."  
The blonde smiles, "You're going to help me spoof a security break down."  
Riley smiles.  
The machine beeps.

\---

Thorton is waiting for them when they leave the lab.  
Riley smiles at the armed men at their boss's side and Mac offers the woman a sheepish smile.  
"Well," Thorton lifts an eyebrow. "Who wants to explain things to me first?"  
"Can I come out now?" the lab tech beats against the closet door again. "Please?"  
"I can explain," Mac says, taking a step closer. "But not here. In private. We need to go to base."  
"Fine," his boss turns on her heels, looking to the men behind her. "Get the tech out of the closet, please. I'll be leaving with these two."  
Riley and Mac follow their boss to an awaiting SUV outside the hospital. Mac keeps an eye out for too curious onlookers but doesn't see anything obviously out of the ordinary. He insists on driving with just the three of them and Thorton allows it without question.  
On the way to headquarters, Mac explains everything again. 

"What did your tests reveal?" Thorton asks as the agent finishes.  
"It's a non-toxic mix of two compounds I've seen before. Assuming Mr. Hue doesn't' give Jack anything else, we should have no problems executing a retrieval."  
"How do you recommend we do that?" his boss questions seriously.  
"With my mad hacker skills," Riley says proudly.  
"We're going to hack the hackers and trace them back to the source," Mac adds confidently as he pulls into the parking garage. "We can deploy men while I talk to the kidnapper. Riley-" he parks the car to turn back to his teammate. "You'll need to be extra careful with this. If Mr. Hue catches you tracing him back..."  
"I won't let you down, Mac," Riley tells him with determination clear on her face and in her voice. "Jack will be back to making his lame old man references by dinner time."  
"Wait a minute, you two," Thorton shifts in her seat. "You can't expose our intel to an enemy. Not even to save our own."  
"That's the beauty of this," Mac smiles. "We're going to use one of Riley's computers. It will have a bunch of fake files for them to go through. Nothing substantial and nothing that will make them think they're being tricked."  
"Speaking of me," Riley opens her door. "I have to put a rush order on a simulated electronic take-over."  
The computer whiz takes off for the entrance. 

Mac opens the door to follow, but his boss puts her hand on his shoulder.  
"How confident are you that this will work?" Thorton asks, no trace of worry in her voice but her eyes betraying her to the blonde.  
"You know I wouldn't risk Jack's life if I wasn't confident in a plan," Mac smiles with more confidence than he really had. "I want him back just as much as you do."  
"I'm going to have our people go over every second of security footage they can scrape together. I'm going to send people to Dalton's place and put agents on the streets looking for the hired help as well," Thorton's expression darkens. "No one takes one of my team and gets away with it."  
The shiver his boss's look gives Mac makes him smile. She could get very protective some times.  
He can't wait to get Jack back so that he can tease the woman about it.

\---

"Okay, so here," Riley turns the computer screen. "Is our spoofed database, complete with just enough to be convincing and all the right blocks in all the right places."  
Thorton checks her watch, "And all in under half an hour? Nice job, Davis."  
Mac pulls out the USB and holds in out for everyone to see it. He looks to the two women, "Ready?"  
"Ready," Riley nods, their boss mimicking the motion.  
Mac puts the drive into the computer and they wait.  
Nothing happens.  
For two solid century-long minutes, nothing happens around the small bubble of three people around a computer screen.  
Then the device beeps and Riley jumps in her seat, her fingers flying over the keys to keep up with a string of code that Mac can barely see, let alone understand.  
"Woah," Riley sounds impressed as her finger continue to move rapidly against the keys. "This is some serious-Guys!"  
The computer whiz pulls her hands away as the screen goes black.  
"What?" Thorton crowds the younger woman. "What happened?"  
"It shut down," Riley frowns, tapping a few keys with no change. "It wasn't a hack, it was a kill switch. If this had been legit-"  
"It would have taken down the entire system," Mac finishes as dread pools in his stomach. "That mean, our Russian kidnapper knows I didn't follow orders."  
Riley turns large, worried eyes to her friend, "And Jack?"  
"I don't know," Mac steps away, his heart beating wildly in his chest as possibilities flood his brain. He has to follow up with the other agents. Get the intel. He has to track down Mr. Hue. He has to get Jack back. He HAS to!  
"Mac!"  
The blonde blinks as he feels his shoulders being shaken. Thorton glares at him, his fingers digging into his shoulder painfully. "You with me MacGyver?"  
"Yeah," Mac nods his head, hands moving to rub at his face. His boss takes a half step back to give him some space. "Yes," he says a little more firmly as he runs a hand through his hair. He looks ot Riley, "Did you get anything? Anything to trace Jack with?"  
"Do I look like a MIT dropout?" the whiz smirks, turning her focus back to her laptop that was now on her lap. Mac's brow furrows, now knowing when that got there. "I didn't get much, which would be bad for the average person. Thankfully, I'm not average." She taps a key with finality. "Got you."  
"What?" Mac rushes to her side. The screen is showing an areal map with a grid and three red dots.  
"It was bounced off, like, a few dozen towers, but I imagine our little hacker friends though that no one would be manning the computers, so," Riley taps a few more times and an address appears at each dot. "The point of origin is at one of these three places."  
"Why three?" Thorton asks.  
Riley shrugs, "It's as close as I could get. Two of them are internet cafes. I doubt they're still there."  
"I'll take the last one," Mac states, memorizing the address before taking off for the exit.  
"Not alone!" Riley announces as she chases after him.  
"None of you were supposed to know about this," the blonde reminds her, not slowing down his pace.  
"You said Mr. Accented & Creepy said you could blow the whistle afterwards," his teammate counters.  
"After I got Jack back," Mac reminds her, finally turning towards her when he reaches the last door to the awaiting vehicles. "I need to go alone. There's a chance he doesn't know what happened. You need to fake a shut down here. Maybe it will be enough to fool Mr. Hue."  
"What? Like ten minutes afterwards?" the whiz huffs a sarcastic laugh. "That'll never work, Mac, and you know it."  
"There's too much I don't know!" Mac curses himself when Riley jumps back a step at his shout. "I'm sorry," he tries to smile reassuringly at her. "I'd love to have you there, really. I want to take an entire platoon of people, armed to the teeth, but I can't. There's no way they won't kill Jack on the spot if I bring an army. I need to go alone if I want any chance to save him."  
"And what are you going to tell them when they ask how you found them?" Riley counters, anger flaring. "You're not thinking clearly, Mac!"  
"You're wasting time," the blonde states simply. "Just go and do what you can, okay?"  
"Do it, Riley," Thorton orders as she steps closer. The two young people look to their boss. She stares at Mac, "You have thirty minutes, then I'm sending in back-up."  
"Deal," Mac nods to her gratefully, then takes off.  
Riley watches him go, her heart beating too hard as she forces her legs to go back to the computers.

"You think he can do it?" she asks as she sits back down to the awaiting screen.  
"I've seen MacGyver do amazing things with just a piece of gum," Thorton smiles. "He'll bring Jack back to us. Just you wait and see."  
Riley sighs, "I hope you're right..."

\---

'None of this is your fault.' Jack's voice runs through Mac's head as he drives. 'None of it was ever your fault.'  
Mack curses as he speeds around another too-slow vehicle. Anger, worry, stress, and a feeling of stupidity try to overwhelm him as he follows GPS prompts to the address.  
"Hold on, Jack," Mac repeats aloud as he tightens his hold on the wheel. "Just a little longer...Almost there..."

MacGyver isn't surprised when he arrives at another abandoned building. His enemy clearly had a preferred venue. This time though, instead of a warehouse, it's the empty shell of an old fire house.  
The blonde parks the car, pulls the spare weapon from under the seat, and exits. He hates the weight of the weapon in his hand but he isn't about to go in there without some sort of leverage. Not when Jack's life was on the line.  
He scans the outside carefully before walking in.  
"MacGyver," Mr. Hue's voice greets him as he walks through the front door.  
Mac's eyes adjust to the dimmer inside and sees the Russian waiting on a white chair far too clean for the dusty remains of the building.  
"You bring your own chair?" he asks casually as he looks for signs of Jack or shooters.  
"I wasn't about to stand around waiting all day," the Russian grimaces. "Honestly, it took you forever, MacGyver. Why so long? I thought you were good at your job?"  
"Tranquilizing a guy causes a lot of questions to be asked," Mac tells him, slowly stepping closer. "When there's a lot of questions and your head is a fuzzy, it takes longer to get things done."  
His answer doesn't please the other man.  
"And yet you still managed to track me down rather quickly," Mr. Hue pulls out a semi-automatic and points it to the blonde. "Tell me, why did you even bother bringing in a weapon?"  
Mac shrugs as he points the weapon at his enemy, "Thought I'd even up the odds. Where's Jack?"  
"Here," the Russian snaps his fingers and Jack is dragged into the room. The other agent is bound just as he was before and his mouth is gagged but he's much livelier than he was last time as he fights against the beefy men forcing him to stand beside his kidnapper. Jack's eyes turn from a hard glare to an open look of question as he locks eyes with Mac.  
"Your weapon?" Mr. Hue asks as one of the thugs points a gun at Jack.  
Mac lifts his hands, then slowly puts the weapon on the ground.  
"I did what you asked," the blonde says as he straightens again. "I plugged in your USB drive. Now let Jack go."  
"Hmm..." the Russian taps his chin with his gun as he pretends to think. "Why don't I believe you?"  
"Why don't you check whoever you've got hacking the database?" Mac challenges with a genuine glare. "Look, I'll most likely be arrested later. I just want my friend back so that I can make a run for it."  
Mr. Hue stands, then fires a line of bullets at the young agent's feet. Mac flinches on instinct but otherwise doesn't move. Jack lunges for the Russian but is held back by the men still standing beside him.  
"How did you find this place?" Mr. Hue demands, lifting the gun to point at the blonde's head. "I was going to text you this address right before you came barging in here. There's no way you could have found this place without tracing the device."  
"I've got really great tech support," Mac says evenly, keeping a careful eye on the weapons. "Are you going to go against your word or what? I don't want to stand around all day if you're just going to shoot me."  
The Russian smiles, "You were never going to walk out of here alive. Surely you knew this?"  
"Yeah," the agent grins. "Which is why I'm not the boss."  
His watch beeps, thirty minutes having elapsed, and the windows explode inwards. The Russian and his henchmen duck down as the wooden boards splinter inwards.  
Mac picks up his weapon and darts for Jack's captors. He rams the butt of the gun into the first man's gut, then whips around to clock the other guy in the head.  
Mr. Hue lifts his weapon to shoot at the blonde, but Jack kicks it out of the man's hands before landing a solid blow to his kidnapper's head; knocking him out cold.  
Mac punches the first man in face, ending the short fight, then smiles at his friend.  
"Nice kick," the agent pockets the gun to pull out his pocket knife and cut the ropes.  
With his arms free, Jack removes the gag.  
"Gah," Jack stretches his jaw as other agents start to flood the room. "Man, that tasted bad. Dude didn't have enough etiquette to get a clean rag for a gag. Who does that?"  
Mac can't help but laugh as he wraps his arms around his friend.  
"Jack?" Riley's voice calls out as the agents move to secure the enemy and check the building for others. Mac pulls back to let the computer whiz have a turn hugging the agent. "You idiot! I can't believe you let yourself get kidnapped!"  
"Did you see my place?" Jack defends himself as he hugs her back. "They tore the place up trying to get their hands on me."  
"According to the report I read, there wasn't even a lamp out of place," Thorton comments as she too enters the small space.  
"A guy gets freed for two seconds and everyone jumps down his throat?" Jack sarcastically complains as Riley lets him go. "At least the Russians just left me alone in a broom closet. Y'all need to work on your post-kidnapping manners."  
"We're really glad you're okay, Jack," Mac pats his friend on the shoulder, "Now, let's get out of here."  
"Please," the older agent accentuates the word as he starts for the door. 

All of the emotions boiling in Mac's head drain away as he steps into the light with Jack. He catches a teary smile on Riley's face and a hidden smirk on Thorton as she addresses the other agents.  
He takes in the first easy breath since this whole thing began.  
Jack turns back to them, "Who's up for a pizza? I'm starving!"

 

\---

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh! Don't you HATE it when you're "good guy smarts" and your "bad guy smarts" fight for dominance in a fic? You want the bad guys to have an upper hand for the good guys to overcome, but then you're like: "But how come they didn't do this? Or what about that? There's even this, this, and this!"  
> ***I own nothing.***


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